In the last version I avoided stealing from the nobles and merchants (though happy to rob the church), yet led a pretty high anarchy rebellion. In this version it looks like I can’t even led a violent rebellion - I’m too busy trying to get more than 5 darn mules!
'Twas a simpler time when one could reliably set Shayard ablaze without worry about the hated donkeys.
Try stealing said mules from the church and Alastors. Steal them violently.
@Havenstone You probably already know since bandits.txt has been changed, but I can verify that the Zvad disappearing bug and the bug with Breden leading a temple raid when not assigned to it have both been fixed. Thank you for that.
I’m not sure if it still occurs as I have not tried it lately, but one bug I was experiencing earlier was when I send a second raid after mules held by priests (the first raid having hit both alastors and priests), I get the message that the raid goes out and returns but the number of mules did not change.
I was trying a playthrough as a helot who discovers theurgy and I came across an error during the mule raid having chosen to raid both alastors and priests. I brought Elery along and listened to her plan for the alastors but then tried to use theurgy instead. That was when I got an error message about improper indent, either expected 32 and found 34 or the other way round (I forget which 
).
Every time I send scouts out for that (week 1) they never seem to return… or at least not until its too late and most of my band is either missing or dead.
Don’t they come back in two weeks? If you can’t keep it together till then, try cutting rations to the bone.
I’ts been a little since I’ve played, but I never remember them coming back, at least in time to make a difference. Either that or I glossed over it.
Rations are already on the bare minimum from week one (don’t raid marketplace). I could change the way I play and raid helots/yeoman at the beginning, but that’s pretty out of character for my MC.
Ah. My startup for a moderate-anarchy run is usually this:
-No mules to the sick at first. Accept the risk of theurge-fire. No supply runs. Healthy on half-rations, sick on healthy diet. (This gets Radmar back in action ASAP and keeps everyone from dying, at least.)
-Raid the tithe barn, then the nobles. No burning. (You may, if you choose, skip the nobles; this takes good luck with bear and rabbit.)
-Send scouts for the tithe barn and the mules first week. Send Breden for the mules every week. (I also scout an estate. YMMV.)
-In the third week, you’ll hear about the new tithe barn and the mules. Send fifty to take every mule you can, led by a combat leader (I like Radmar for this). If you have enough troops, raid a noble barn. Then shift all mules to the sick.
-From the fourth week on, every other week you should shift mules out, attack a tithe barn, shift mules back to the sick. Set rations to healthy for all, and don’t bother buying food; a twenty-mule train on a tithe barn is good enough to feed your band for two weeks.
Why can you just let the children and their parents go away. Hidden them between several helots yeoman groups. @Havenstone That way some people could have it easier
Because that means spending men on arranging the fosterage. (Also, yeomen, take in a helot child? I thought you had more dignity than suggesting such a thing! Yeomen might not be aristocrats, but there’s a vast gulf in status between yeomen and helots! Why, yeomen are almost human!)
Yeah my character think they don’t deserve be with her that’s why I didn’t help them and I am swimming in money and food lol However pro helot people would love save the children
First off let me say this even while I have been quiet as this WIP while it has been worked on over the years (has it been that long?) I had been an avid fan. The world building, the characters, the concept, well heck the whole kit and kaboodle, it was an epic saga that pulled you in and would not let you go.
With that stated (first time playing this game since the newest update June 16), I am wholly against the micro management addition. First and foremost it detracts from the story (there are a plethora of other games that do it better, still do not play those either). I am here for the story not to see how many bushels of barley that my would-be rebel upstarts need, every week. Weekly raiding, hmmm how about no. The way you had it set-up before this update was perfect. Enough management to allow for the understanding behind the war effort without taking away from the story.
With this update, I actually stopped playing the game and said no. As it stands (I know there is the option to skip ahead to the new goodies but I like playing through) I will never make it to that point. When something that was once was fun, becomes a chore, it is no longer fun nor engaging.
There are ways to fix this; story mode where you are just playing the story (like before the new additions for micro-management). As it stands, if this were a released game, I would have gotten a refund.
To me, it seems you are getting away from the story and getting way to involved with the minutia of the details behind the war effort, which does not really enhance the story in any way.
Manually inputting numbers over and over again…No, just no.
I think @Ramidel is on to something. If the weekly bandit numbers game is too frustrating, people will simply look up guides for it rather than figure it out on their own. They’re not bad people for doing so, but if the point of that section is to simulate the stress of leadership, then they’re not actually going to experience that stress. They’re just going to follow a formula that someone else worked out, passively grinding through the weeks instead of learning to manage the band through trial and error. That’s my take on it, anyways.
The first 4 weeks are exactly my problem. I’m fine once I get to the point where I can raid a temple or an Allastor garrison, but until then I need a lot of luck. As a pacifist I get through the first two weeks by selling all my weapons (except my father’s, because I love him), but in the week that follows I regularly get a fifth of my followers killed because I’m unable to feed them, even when I keep them on a half ration.
If you are doing a pacifist route why don’t you try for once the pacifist doesn’t interrupt the harrowing. It would be better to anyone. The children won’t die and you could be free to do a pacifist rebellion. I find cruel the justification to go and make a mob of sick , elder and children following you to a certain death and suffering in the middle of the forest to be famine or slain by falangites.
Yes they’re almost entirely random and stupidly luck based and a wrong dice roll there will tank you.
Still hate those damned mules though, even on the few tries where I do make it through.
The last weeks in comparison get almost trivial as you can amass thousands of Drachems relatively easily if you’ve even the slightest bit of luck there.
Because you need high Charisma for the pacifist route and it doesn’t really fit a Helot playthrough, imho, to not Rebel at that Harrowing, as that means you’ll be thrown into the dungeons and “freed” by a damned kryptast noble.
Since as a noble puppet there would be no future worth living in it for my character anyway, why even bother rebelling in that case?
Fortunately, I’d never release it in its current state – and I trust CoG wouldn’t either. 
I hear the dissatisfaction and the advice loud and clear. I wasn’t happy with the last version – it wasn’t the experience I’m trying to create with the story – and I’m going to try to make my vision for it work before giving up.
But if I can’t get it to a stage where it’s fun for me – which has so far been a decent guide to what lots of you enjoy too – I’ll revert to something more like the old version.
No you don’t need High charisma. You just has to wait and see how the harrowing goes. If you don’t intervene Breden goes all Judas in you and you get jailed and a noble save you. That’s how i have only 43 warriors. The place was untouched and children are safe in home everyone is happy
I just want to say don’t get discouraged. I can tell you put a ton of work into this new content. No matter what you decide I think you made some really good additions to the overall story.
I think @Havenstone himself said that we’ll most likely need high Charisma to pull off a true pacifist run (using the Hegemony’s violent nature against it will require more than a bookish (former)Helot would-be mage to lead it to anything close to victory) and my character would never willingly cede the leadership role his freedom now depends upon to anyone else, not before the final victory at least (and after that only once the new world order has firmly taken root and he’s personally beyond reproach).
Exactly my character doesn’t want a “noble” to save him. Any revolution he runs is as much, if not more, against the priests and the nobles then it is against the Thaumatarchy itself.
Some of the new raids are nice and an early leadership challenge can even be believable under the circumstances but I’d rather it wasn’t all so random and luck dependent or required that much micromanagement.
Just putting everything in two week increments, or alternatively adding the save feature, that I’ll use to scum like crazy, will cut my current level of aggravation at the new chapter in half.
I understand then your character. Mine is all the contrary. However I don’t believe i could win against Hegemony in a million of years but I will die trying